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The Effects Of Environmental Variability On The Population Structure Of The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica): A Modeling Study, Margaret Mcmanus Dekshenieks

OES Theses and Dissertations

Three models were coupled to investigate the effects of changes in environmental conditions on the population structure of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. The first model, a time-dependent model of the oyster population as described in Powell et al. (1992) and Hofmann et al. (1992, 1995), tracks the distribution, development, spawning, and mortality of sessile oyster populations. The post-settlement model incorporates mortality through parasitism, predation, food depletion and extremes in environmental conditions. The post-settlement model supplies the initial abundance of larvae spawned into the water column, and in turn is the recipient of cohorts of spawn which survive through metamorphosis. …